Local Tea Party wants Mexico to make reforms before any new trade deal

President Donald J. Trump’s administration has announced its intention to separate the ongoing multilateral North American Free Trade Agreement negotiations with Canada and Mexico. The President intends to conduct bilateral talks with Canada and Mexico on independent negotiating tracts.

Local Tea Party groups, including Buffalonians for New Leadership, are applauding the move. Earlier this week the group called for the change of strategy, wanting to evolve a closer relationship with Canada while holding the Mexican government accountable to for reportedly rampant government corruption and security failures.

The group wants the Mexican government to implement a slew of anti-corruption reforms and acquiesce to American military assistance in its Northern border provinces, before the approval of a new bilateral trade agreement, a successor to NAFTA.

“Mexico’s federal government has not been a reliable partner on the national security interests that we share with the Mexican people. We have a nearly failed state on our own boarder that, for many years, was unwilling or unable to put down a drug war,” explains Matthew Ricchiazzi, the co-founder of Buffalonians for New Leadership and New York’s leading Tea Party activist.

Ricchiazzi wants President Trump to establish three principle benchmarks that the Mexican government must meet if they expect to maintain their privileged trade relationship with the American marketplace, including the adoption of new anti-corruption laws, a national strategy to eliminate criminal drug cartels, and a package of election law reforms.

“We have a moral responsibility to the Mexican people to hold their government accountable,” Ricchiazzi adds. “The Mexican people are being impoverished by crooked politicians and criminal drug cartels, both run amok.”

Ricchiazzi wants the State Department to open direct diplomatic channels with the Governors of Mexico’s six northern most States, where violence related to drug and sex trafficking have threatened border communities. Critics say that such a move could further undermine the effectiveness of Mexico’s federal government.

Any permanent extension of the privileged trade relationship, he argues, should be coupled with Mexico’s acceptance of military assistance and training in its northern border states. Otherwise, the group predicts a border wall will be inevitable.